It is about a 16 year old before and his narrative thoughts over a period of two days around Christmas. He gives us descriptions of his feelings and struggles on finding whether or not he wants to be a man or still be a boy.
Novel
Since this novel is giving detailed thoughts and feels of what the 16 year old is thinking and feeling, it involves a lot of sexuality, profanity, anit-white sentiment and extreme violence.
This novel actually received a 5/5 total review. One detail review is below: "What about Catcher in the Rye that makes me wish that I had written it? Maybe it was Holden's crude humor or his mannerisms. Catcher is the type of book that makes me wish that I was with Holden the whole time from fighting Maurice-the pimpy elevator boy-or going on that date with Sally. Catcher in the Rye is the type of novel that I enjoy because of its humor, pictaresque descriptions, and characterizations.Standing on the hill overlooking the football field, Holden is bidding farewell to Pencey Prep and its students. He just flunked five subjects and just returned from New York City. When Holden introduced himself, he said that he's not going to tell us his whole biography. He wanted to let us understand that this book is a new type of novel. This novel would be much more different than the Great Gatsby or Charles Dickens' victorian novels. Though he's the narrator, he is definetly not the protagonist or the antogonist. He is not the character that makes you wish that you want to grow up like him. He is the type of guy that you just want to fight with him because of your compassion for his losses. We really felt a loss when he described the day Allie died or the morbid scenes of falling into a deep dark hole.The character Holden is very amusing because he always uses this sarcastic tone that makes you want to giggle and laugh. When Holden visits Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, he described Mr. Spencer's condition in a very amusing way. He described the old guy like he's this eighty year old dude who is ready to die. He also critizes his own essay in a very amusing way. Holden also has a heart and common sense. He invited a Prostitute over , but did not have sex with her because he knew that was not within his moral grounds.He also calls everybody'morons'. That symbolizes his hatred of everybody and the first step in his morbid condition. He would also attempt suicide because he is so devasted by Allie's death.Ordinary People and Catcher in the Rye are two different stories, but they part of the same puzzle. Catcher in the Rye explained Holden’s internal emotions, while Ordinary People focused on Conrad’s family problems for him. Ordinary People build and strengthens the ideas of psychiatric problems for a troubled teen in Catcher in the Rye."
About.com Classic Literature Review. 2013 All Rights Reserved.
When this novel was first published it was placed on the New York Times Best Sellers List in 1951. However sooner after being published and involved in schools the controversial issues came out and started to become banned in most schools.
This novel was designed for adults who later on became accepted in colleges and high schools. Personally, I would not use this novel for the high school level simply due to the profanity and sexual content that is involved. I personally do not feel it is high school appropriate, only college and adults should be reading this novel.
"What about Catcher in the Rye that makes me wish that I had written it? Maybe it was Holden's crude humor or his mannerisms. Catcher is the type of book that makes me wish that I was with Holden the whole time from fighting Maurice-the pimpy elevator boy-or going on that date with Sally. Catcher in the Rye is the type of novel that I enjoy because of its humor, pictaresque descriptions, and characterizations.Standing on the hill overlooking the football field, Holden is bidding farewell to Pencey Prep and its students. He just flunked five subjects and just returned from New York City. When Holden introduced himself, he said that he's not going to tell us his whole biography. He wanted to let us understand that this book is a new type of novel. This novel would be much more different than the Great Gatsby or Charles Dickens' victorian novels. Though he's the narrator, he is definetly not the protagonist or the antogonist. He is not the character that makes you wish that you want to grow up like him. He is the type of guy that you just want to fight with him because of your compassion for his losses. We really felt a loss when he described the day Allie died or the morbid scenes of falling into a deep dark hole.The character Holden is very amusing because he always uses this sarcastic tone that makes you want to giggle and laugh. When Holden visits Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, he described Mr. Spencer's condition in a very amusing way. He described the old guy like he's this eighty year old dude who is ready to die. He also critizes his own essay in a very amusing way. Holden also has a heart and common sense. He invited a Prostitute over , but did not have sex with her because he knew that was not within his moral grounds.He also calls everybody'morons'. That symbolizes his hatred of everybody and the first step in his morbid condition. He would also attempt suicide because he is so devasted by Allie's death.Ordinary People and Catcher in the Rye are two different stories, but they part of the same puzzle. Catcher in the Rye explained Holden’s internal emotions, while Ordinary People focused on Conrad’s family problems for him. Ordinary People build and strengthens the ideas of psychiatric problems for a troubled teen in Catcher in the Rye."
About.com Classic Literature Review. 2013 All Rights Reserved.
Angela Ray